The invention concerns a cooking range comprising at least one cooking surface in the form of a glass/glass ceramic cover, or the like, with cooking zones, wherein functional elements such as control and display elements combined in at least one functional area are integrated.
Such a cooking range, wherein the switches, signaling lamps, electronic or electromechanical components are arranged in the operating area of the cooking surface and which comprise a so-called "touch-control switch" as a functional element, is commercially available and known from French Patent FR 2 658 591 A1.
It has been found that these touch-control switches do not always operate without failure. The touch-control switches respond to the capacitive change occurring when a finger touches the glass ceramic upper surface. However, the sensor reacts more or less quickly, depending on the humidity of the finger with respect to the humidity of the glass ceramic upper surface. This unreliable response behavior ultimately results in customer dissatisfaction.
It could thus be considered to solve the problem by introducing borehole openings in the cooking surface and inserting passing respective switches or signaling lamps through said openings. In this case, however, the problem is that the sturdiness of the cooking surface is impaired and that, if damaged, the entire cooking surface becomes unusable. If these functional elements are to be additionally mounted damp-proof, it is necessary to glue them. However, if the functional element then breaks down, it can only be disengaged from the cooking surface with difficulty or not at all.